Packing for a short-term trip to Haiti can be intimidating. With that in mind, I thought it might be useful for people going to see the types of things I take.
I travel light. I plan on washing stuff out. And several items have multiple uses.
In short, I do my best to be self-contained. While I’m sure I could get just about anything I forgot I like to show up ready to go so we can concentrate on our work and not on something I need.
When you are in public spaces expect to keep a neat appearance. Haiti isn’t a casual culture when it comes to clothing. People dress up to conduct business, so that’s expected of you most times.
Clothes
- I save an outfit for arriving and departing. You might even want to pack a plastic bag to wrap this outfit in… your seat mates on the departure side will thank you.
- New or newish tennis shoes. You’ll be doing a lot of walking. You don’t want to be grubby… ever. But you can get away with wearing nicer tennis shoes with long pants.
- Two pairs of khaki shorts. I prefer to take stuff that’s not pure cotton, stuff I can rinse out in a sink and wear again.
- Dockers. You’ll need at least one pair of long pants.
- Sandals or flip flops for relaxing in. (I double up my flip flops as shower shoes.)
- Two breathable collared shirts, I have a couple wrinkle free shirts that work well. I could wash them if I needed to.
- Three breathable t-shirts. Two for wearing and one for sleeping in. I rinse these out, hang them up, and wear them again.
- Plan on changing at least once per day. Once to do work, once when you’re done with work.
Sleep
I’ve kind of refined this part of my game. I’m winning lately. And I take this stuff wherever I go now, even in the States.
- Travel pillow
- Travel sheet (You won’t likely need more than this in Haiti. It’s always warm.)
- Eno Singlenest Hammock w/Atlas strap system (I like having this as an option, way better air circulation than an air mattress)
- 02 Cool portable fan from Walmart (Trust me on this one.)
Other Stuff
- 32 ounce wide mouth Nalgene bottle
- Powdered Gatorade (I get sick of water, like a lil flavor in my bottle.)
- Extra batteries
- iPhone charger + car charger (Stuff that works in the States will work in Haiti, same electrical system.)
- A few 1 quart ziplock bags
- Toiletry kit, same as I’d take everywhere
- Gold Bond… helps with the humidity
- Note cards… not business cards.
- Small bills. I bring $100 in 1-5-10 denominations.
- iPhone. Any photo, video, note, etc… I can do that on a smart phone. The heat, dust, bumpy roads are just not good for high end equipment so I avoid taking my laptop or camera if I can. Wifi is getting more and more common in Haiti, if I really needed to I’d turn on AT&T’s international data plan.
What am I missing?
Leave a Reply